Luiz Felipe Pinto has been a regular in the Blazers' lineup all season.

Feb. 14, 2013

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team has played an extremely difficult early-season schedule, going against five ranked teams among its first seven opponents in 2013.

The Blazers (2-6) have played close in several of those matches but have come up on the short end of the score in all five. When they take on crosstown foe Samford Friday afternoon (2:30) at the George Ward Tennis Center, UAB will looking to get back on track.

The Blazers will face a pair of home matches this weekend, also going against Kennesaw State on Sunday (3 p.m.). UAB was originally scheduled to play Chattanooga earlier in the day Sunday, but expected cold temperatures have forced postponement of that match until a later date.

The Blazers went 2-1 in their opening weekend last month at Tallahassee with wins over Florida A&M and Florida Gulf Coast with a loss to No. 28 Florida State. Since then, UAB has dropped consecutive matches to No. 51 Arkansas, No. 22 Auburn, No. 45 Alabama, No. 43 Middle Tennessee and Yale.

The 4-3 loss to Yale last Saturday at Nashville represents UAB's most recent action.

Samford enters Friday's match against UAB with a 3-1 record. The Bulldogs have posted wins over Austin Peay, Alabama and Jacksonville State.

Kennesaw State has only played two dual matches thus far, coming up short against Nicholls State and Georgia Southern.